This invention relates to helicopter rotor heads of the elastomeric type wherein the rotor blades are connected to the rotor hub through one or more elastomeric type bearings. Such a rotor head is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,782,854. The function of the elastomeric bearings in this rotor head application is to provide rotor blade retention and support while allowing the blade freedom in torsion as well as in vertical and horizontal directions to a limited degree and within the shear capabilities of the bearings. These bearings are laminated structures comprising alternating layers of metal plates and elastomer. A concern of the rotor head designer is to provide adequate structural restraint for the large in-plane rotor blade motions which occur during rotor head starting and stopping operations, where the inertia and momentum of the blades tend to cause or allow them to move to lead or lag positions beyond their generally radial flight position. When a rotor head is started and being brought up to its full rotational speed, the blades tend to lag behind the rotor hub at a small angle until equilibrium is achieved. Similarly, when stopping under the speed retardation of a rotor brake, the blades have a tendency to pivot about their focal points and to advance into lead positions relative to the hub. By the configuration shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,759,632, the in-plane damper is connected to the root end of the blade, and its stroke is substantially in a perpendicular direction to the blade feathering axis. Small angular excursions of a blade relative to the rotor hub in either the lead or lag direction will be damped by this configuration, and large excursions beyond a predetermined angle will be reacted by the interaction of the damper bottoming and the shaft/hub arm contacts perpendicular to the blade axis. This perpendicular relationship between the blade and damper resulted in a high side load being imposed on the shear bearing located between the elastomeric bearings and the blade spar root end. While a reorientation of the damper to place its axis generally parallel to that of the blade span axis effectively lowers that high load, such reorientation could not be made without addressing and solving the need to react the inwardly directed load that occurs when the blade moves to its lead position as caused by the application of the rotor brake when the rotor is still rotating. The problem caused by the inwardly directed load is its tendency to introduce a tension load into the elastomeric bearings at a time when the normally high compressive flight load on the bearings is reduced in proportion to the square of the rotor speed.